Plagiarism
In February 2009, Mike Masnick wrote on technology news site Techdirt that users of the website MetaFilter had discovered that Frazer had been copying their comments and using them as punchlines in his UserFriendly comics. Later Frazer accepted full responsibility on his site, writing "over the last couple of years I've infringed on the expression of ideas of some (who I think are) clever people. Plagiarized. My hypocrisy seems to know no bounds." He apologized to his readers and the original authors of the jokes, and said "I'll be modifying the cartoons in question. No, it won't happen again."
O'Reilly Media and Manning Publications have published material by Frazer. The book published by Manning contains a cartoon that Frazer has since removed from the website. The online comics have been updated to quote, and credit the source of the punchlines. A thorough search of the archives by User Friendly fans was also conducted to ensure that none of the other punchlines have been plagiarized.
Read more about this topic: User Friendly
Famous quotes containing the word plagiarism:
“Ideas improve. The meaning of words participates in the improvement. Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author’s phrase, makes use of his expressions, erases a false idea, and replaces it with the right idea.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)
“Mr. Fitzgerald—I believe that is how he spells his name—seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home.”
—Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948)